Who Knew? Today is National Blueberry Pie Day (2 photos)

I didn’t not even know there was a National Blueberry Pie Day. I almost missed it and that would be so sad. You will notice that I had no difficulty finding a photo (actually several) of real Maine Wild Blueberry Pie. (Anyone else think this person has a bit too many photos of pie when we have only seen two of his grandkids?) Anyway, the two shots are of different pies. The slice is from West Street Cafe in Bar Harbor and was the choice in the category “Best Pie to Order with Dinner.” The whole pie is from Morning Glory Bakery about a block away. It won “Best Wild Blueberry Pie on the Island,” a most prestigious award selected by an expert panel of Picky Pie People who tried more than anyone should to determine the overall winner. Their’s was an heroic effort with total disregard for calories and vast quantities of caffeine.

Heavenly.

“And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.”

Ecclesiastes 3:13 NLT

Nervous

Me not him. This is a big alligator. I was on a slight bank and he was 18 feet away or so. To get closer I would need to get off the bank. No thanks. He appears docile but they can move quickly and I cannot. Anyway I tried to get him better in focus and was unable (or unwilling to stand there any longer) so this is the best shot of six of them. .

Adventure Awaits

Small boat off shore near Blue Hill, Maine.

Welcome

This is the front of the Coke Mural building I posted a few days ago. The restaurant is Side Street just a few blocks from the NC Governor’s Mansion. Nice older neighborhood that is now an historic district in Raleigh. Got to try the food here.

A Second Mural

Loved this mural on a restaurant but the options to shoot it were very limited and then there were the cars. I will go back on morning - early - and have space to shoot and no cars. Really neat representing, as stated in a monster at the top left of center, the jazz greats of NC.

The Other Side... (2 photos)

… of the house at Charles Pinckney National Historic Site. Nice walk on a nice day would not have been too pleasant during the heat and humidity of Charleston’s summer. The second photo is of an overgrown house, I am guessing from the 1930’s or so, near the main house. There is a short trail around the property but it is not well marked and even though you are only walking about a mile it was still confusing. Not sure that the house in the woods was even on the trail.

Charles Pinckney National Historic Site

I Have No Idea...

Which is not surprising if you have seen my myriad of flower photos over the years. I rarely know what they are, but whatever it is this one is pretty neat. I will call it a pineapple flower. Yeah, that sounds accurate.

Added at 7:27 on Monday: Dennis Mook tells me I need the “Garden Answers Plant ID” app where you submit a plant photo and you get the likely name back, in this case “Mountain Knapweed.” Dennis, my go to guy for photography now branching out to the world of biology. Although I still think Pineapple Flower is a great name.

Someday....on One Sunday....

…just before dawn the world changes from bleak to light, a new reality emerges, an indomitable truth triumphs and nothing will ever be the same. One Sunday changes everything.

“But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.

The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!”  Luke 24: 1-6a NLT

Someday.... on Some Saturday....

All we can see are the approaching storms about to engulf us, inevitably surround and pummel us.

Someday... on Some Friday...

It is hard to see and perspective is lost and details we should know are murky. We know but what we know intellectually cannot penetrate our circumstances.

"Teach the World to Sing"

I think this sign pre-dates that already old Coke ad line on the likely refurbished sign on the Side Street Restaurant on Raleigh’s East side. Kellen and I were on a search for murals on Tuesday night and found several - this was the most evocative to me of the several we found. The restaurant was moderately busy at 9 on a Tuesday - looks like one to try someday.

High Strung (2 Photos)

This beautiful bridge, Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge, is in Charleston, SC and spans the 1548 feet of the Cooper River carrying traffic on Rt 17. The week we were here ended (we were gone by then) with the “Run the Bridge,” a USA Track & Field 10,000 meter Cooper River Bridge Run. This event attracts up to 50,000 people. I took the photo from the shuttle to Fort Sumter. Also nearby is a fishing pier with with this interesting pattern above you between bridge spans.

Decay (2 photos)

This is the passenger and freight station that served the farming community of Saltier, SC. No trains stop here any longer. The town has a very few buildings and most of them seemed unoccupied. The highway bypasses the town by a few hundred feet but there isn’t even a sign for Saltier at the lone road off the highway. A non-entity today. The old store in photo two was where I was standing when I shot the station photo. Both were shot with the Fuji X-T3 & processed in Luminar 3 and the station photo has had four signs and a fire hydrant removed.

The ONLY Tea Plantation in North America (2 photos)

Classic American Teas is located a few miles from Charleston, SC. As America’s only tea producer this is your single chance to see both tea growing and the processing of the leaves into the finished product. They offer trolly tours of the facility and fields and in the large gift shop you can taste all the hot and cold tea you wish. An interesting place to spend a couple of hours and learn something too.

Eloquence

Eloquence is properly used in relationship to speech when one is especially adapt at using words and expression to create an articulate and persuasive talk or to speak in a poetic manner or even to write well in an effective and inspiring fashion. Yet with what eloquence the mute flower speaks of spring, of beauty and joy.

“For ever since the world was created …. through everything God made, we can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So we have no excuse for not knowing God.” Romans 1:20 NLT

Rainbow Row

This famous section of housing in Charleston, SC is hard to photograph. The narrow street has on-street parking on both sides, is tree lined and often packed with tourists walking along the battery. I was fortunate to get a shot of the sidewalk from this angle with no people. If you are interested the blue one in the foreground is for sale for under 9 million. Snap it up quick!

Charleston, SC

So You Want To Be A Rock n' Roll Star

At least this Little Green Heron has the wild eyes and over the top hair down. Watched him be still as a rock for 15 minutes and then this!. Here is the song, appropriately by the Byrds, if you don’t remember: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WXy-h5scjk

Huntington Beach State Park, SC

Picnic Anyone?

I’m sure there will be plenty of sweet mint tea. This spot seemed idyllic on the day we visited. Nice sunny day, rain the day before cleared the pollen and the temperature was about 75 with a light breeze off the ocean. You just wanted to stay.

Brookgreen Gardens, SC

Four Ducks

Sunset over the fresh water pond at Huntington Beach State Park in SC. I really like this place, nice campground, nice beach, alligators and birds in abundance, trails and close to ice cream. Perfect. And exceptional staff!

Charles Pinckney NHS (Park # 222)

This is a nice setting if you don’t look too closely. The house is old, 1828, but not original nor one Charles lived in, the land is nicely done but along a busy road and in the midst of lots of housing, the path is short and only mildly interesting, so a bit of a disappointment Charles Pinckney was a very accomplished man - with some of the same issues that his time and place made too normal, but still a hard worker, good thinker and added a lot to the US Constitution. But his home in Charleston with all of his papers burned and his plantations -save this remnant are gone. Nice enthused young man at the VC.

This completes SC except for the Reconstruction Era NHS in Beaufort which is still being developed and not open yet.